1. RAPID-WATCH/MOCHA Observations of the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation Why are observations of the AMOC important and what do they tell us about climate? THOR 2 nd End‐User Workshop Decadal Climate Predictions and the RAPID‐WATCH Programme London 24 th Oct 2012 Dr Stuart A. Cunningham Scottish Association of Marine Science & Marine Alliance for Science & Technology Scotland

2. What is Climate?

3. 3 Energy Transport in the Atlantic

4. 4 Zonally averaged annual mean surface air temperature anomaly Rahmstorf & Ganapolski 1999

5. Observing the Atlantic Circulation RAPID-WATCH/MOCHA: A Purposefully Designed Array for Sustained Observations of the Meridional Overturning Circulation and Heat Flux http://www.noc.soton.ac.uk/rapidmoc/

6. Vigour of the Atlantic Circulation

7. … and the climatologically more relevant energy transport

8. 30% decline in annual mean circulation and heat flux

9. Data from the Global Argo Network of Floats

10. Temperature Anomalies

11. 2010 The Year Britain Froze December 2010 : Gatwick

12. The North Atlantic Oscillation

13. Is the Atlantic Circulation Slowing? RAPID

14. Why are observations of the AMOC important and what do they tell us about climate? RAPID 1.Verify the output and physics of coupled climate models. 2.Baseline against which future change may be measured. 3.Fundamental insights into ocean physics. 4.Sustained observing to quantify the changing climate system and to interpret this variability in the widest context. Argo Network